HOT POLL: Should criminal charges be filed against Susan Rice for the unmasking of Trump team members?

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., suggested that Susan Rice engaged in illegal activity when she requested the unmasking of American citizens involved with the Trump campaign and transition team.

“She said intelligence wasn’t used for political purposes. We know that’s false. There were a number of leaks of classified information involving US persons including Michael Flynn that are illegal… I think she dug herself more of a hole because two weeks ago she said she never heard of any type of unmasking,” he said.

Former national security advisor Susan Rice, according to reports, “unmasked” the identities of President Trump’s associates who appeared in raw intelligence reports. Rice is already a villain in Republican circles for blaming the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack on an anti-Islam YouTube video, so the revelation plays into GOP claims that President Trump and his team are suffering from politically-motivated leaks originating with Obama-era government officials.

“That Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice is alleged to have been responsible for this unmasking is troubling given her history of deceit and her close relationship with then-President Obama,” DeSantis said. “We need to know whether the material gleaned from the Rice unmasking is the material fed to the media in an attempt to do political damage to the Trump administration and, if so, who was responsible for leaking it.”

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday that former national security advisor Susan Rice committed a crime by unmasking private U.S. citizens mentioned in intelligence reports.